After Distancing Myself From the Childhood Friend Couple Who Looked Down on Me, I Started Interacting With a Small Animal-Like Beautiful Girl - Chapter 3

HR is over, and my classmates are dispersing.

Kubo, who sometimes walks home with me, left the classroom early because it was the release day of the latest volume of his favorite manga. That manga is “I’m the Only One Who Keeps Getting Stronger,” abbreviated as “It’s Me,” which has recently been making headlines due to its anime adaptation.

“Seriously, it’s really interesting. It’s not just a story where the protagonist is overpowered. I won’t let anyone say it’s just a story about creating a harem of busty beauties in the end.”

The after-school classroom where only a handful of people remain.

Kubo pressed closer with a serious expression… staring at the cover of the manga he lent me.

Since I had been following Kubo for a while, I did a bit of research and was somewhat familiar with its popularity and the content of the story.

However, I’m not really into these another world reincarnation stories or protagonist-strongest cheat-type light novels or manga, and I’m incredibly slow at getting through any book. Even books that I thought were good when I bought them ended up being left untouched for over a year at some point.

I was really anxious about whether I could give Kubo a proper response.

“What should I do…”

Staring at the beautiful illustration on the cover, I murmur.

Since leaving the childhood friend couple group, the only one who talks to me properly is Kubo if I were to trample on his feelings for something he loves like that.

–––There aren’t any other people besides us who are friendly to you.

–––It’s just us, right~? No matter how much Yuki messes up, we’re the ones who stick around for you.

…Ah, not again.

I distanced myself from them to deny what they said.

I instinctively clenched my fist on the table.

“––Hey.”

A voice came from right next to me, and I couldn’t help but flinch.

“Are you that surprised…?”

The same voice said, half in disbelief.

A voice I’ve heard many times before next to me. But, no way…

I cautiously turned my face to the left.

The languid, round eyes are looking at me.

Her gaze, while standing, almost aligned with mine as I sat, but just barely missed.

“…Um, the person you were just talking to.”

“It’s you, though.”

“Oh, no, that’s not it. The person Saitou was talking to was…”

“It’s Yoshizaki.”

“…”

The girl in front of me, sitting next to me, with whom I’ve never exchanged a word–––Saitou Ino.

It wasn’t just that she remembered my name. The fact that she spoke to me was the hardest to believe.

I don’t even care about being called by my last name all of a sudden. I just don’t understand the current situation at all.

“…Did you need something?”

In a sudden interaction with someone with whom I had zero conversation, I got so flustered that my tongue almost got tangled, but I somehow managed to string together some words.

Saitou-san opened her mouth without changing her expression.

“Do you like cats?”

…Hmm?

I was momentarily taken aback when my question was met with another question.

It was too abrupt.

“U-um…?”

“Because you always watch cat videos. I thought you liked them.”

“Ha, haa… Eh? Always, huh?”

“…? Your seat is next to me, so I can see it, no?”

With an expression that didn’t change at all, Saitou-san tilted her head slightly to the side.

…Was I always being watched by the beautiful girl in front of me while I was watching cat videos?

… …Huh?

“When Yoshizaki is looking at cats, you give off such a happy aura.”

Saitou-san’s casual words were the final straw, and my cheeks felt like they were on fire.

It’s because Saitou-san was always either sleeping or out of the classroom when I was watching cat videos. I had never seen her talking to classmates before, and she seemed so disinterested in the people around her that I thought she wouldn’t care about someone like me.

For the boys who admire Saitou-san, just being acknowledged by her is a privilege.

Not only was I usually being watched, but I was also spoken to.

It feels like a shout of “be grateful” is about to come flying in, but that’s not the point.

The fact that my face, completely relaxed while looking at the cat, was being watched the whole time by the person next to me.

It’s incredibly embarrassing, and I can’t look Saitou-san in the eye properly.

“Hey, Yoshizaki.”

“Yes…”

I reply while looking down. A voice like a mosquito’s buzz came out.

What will she say next…

“Show me the cat video that Yoshizaki is watching.”

Ah, my shame is coming out after all…

Huh?

I open my eyes wide and lift my face.

Saitou-san’s expression was still blank as before.

“…Show you the cat video that I was watching?”

“Yeah. Especially that one, the gray, round cat. Yoshizaki was watching it again this morning.”

“This morning’s… oh, it’s Maru’s.”

“Maru?”

“Um, that cat over there is my pet cat.”

“Hmm. Maru…”

Because it’s round and cute, the whole family agreed on the name, but I feel like people might say it’s too simple.

Actually, my childhood friends Daiki and Serika laughed and said, “You have no sense at all,” and “Why not just make it fat?” I was laughed at.

“Adorable. It suits them.”

What I received back from Saitou-san was completely unexpected.

For some reason, Saitou-san’s aura feels gentle.

“T-thank you…”

Without thinking, I ended up using honorifics, and I felt my heart warm up.

The joy of her complimenting the name of my beloved Maru and another feeling rising up at the same time.

What could the other one be?

“Hey, show me Maru’s video.”

Saitou-san smoothly leans in.

I nod, operate my smartphone, and open the photos.

When I selected and played the video of Maru I was watching this morning, Saitou-san’s small face peeked into my hands.

While feeling flustered by the much closer, cute face than before, I also directed my gaze to Maru on my smartphone.